Lupus Awareness…

Okay, yes I’m aware it’s now Breast Cancer Awareness month, but I’m also VERY late on writing about this. See, it’s been hard for me to accept that someone I know and love has this disease, Lupus. That person is my Mom. She’s had it for years and like the saying goes “but you don’t look sick“. Most days Mom doesn’t, but then there are days when I know she’s hurting and she works through the pain. Or, in most cases, she just stays in bed…lol. Now, that aside I want to let you know how Lupus can affect people who DO NOT have the disease. I believe Lupus does need a cure and more awareness. I also think that if more people knew the signs and symptoms it may also help. Lupus isn’t something you hear about in the news or people get all “rah-rah” behind. Nope, Lupus is a what I refer to as a disease you may have heard of or know someone with, but don’t really know what it is…

Here’s how Lupus indirectly affected me. When hubby and I got married, we had been together for almost 4 years, traveled and done things. Once married we started working on a family. 3 miscarriages later and I was referred to a fertility specialist. Apparently we didn’t have an issue getting pregnant, but holding onto the pregnancy was another story. After numerous blood tests it was determined that I carry something called the Lupus anticoagulant antibody. In “normal person” speak, that means that I inherited this antibody (from my Mom who has Lupus) and it affected the way my blood was clotting. Now, for someone like me, that was a hard pill to swallow. I didn’t fully understand what it meant except that this antibody was causing me to miscarry. I took me a while to accept that MY OWN BODY has attacked each pregnancy and resulted in my losing it. Yup, you read that one right.

Fast forward to today…We now have 3 healthy, happy children. 2 princesses and a little man. Had I not found out, would I have kids? I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know what I had to do to “keep them in” me. That regime required taking 3 progesterone pills per day, 1 baby aspirin and 2 shots of Heparin in the stomach. Each day, Every Day, for the first 13 weeks of my pregnancies, the baby aspirin for 8 months.

Honestly that was the easy part…haha. Anyone who has given birth knows the hard part comes after the news that It’s a …..(insert boy/girl here). I just wanted to share how Lupus has been a part of my family. I know each person has their own cause. I do too. Read over the signs and symptoms of Lupus and also don’t forget to check your breasts each month/have your yearly mammogram. Best to all of you fighting with either of these terrible diseases!!

To read about some other diseases that are important here are some links.

Please, feel free to leave links to your sites about causes that are important to you. I have several causes I donate to each year, those are the ASPCA, Lupus Assoc., March of Dimes, and the Alzheimer’s Assoc. These are all VERY personal to me!!

Here are some pictures from the walk I did and also the Lupus walk this year that my 4 year old and nieces (ages 11 and 9) along with my Mom raised money for.

Mom (in the purple hat), my oldest and my nieces (also another very nice lady, I can’t recall her name though!)